ok i just bought a 89 civic 4 door sedan automatic for $500. it only has 38,000 original miles on it. no rust what so ever and only a few dings on the body. interior is flawless.

problem 1. start the car and both the ac and other fan both turn on even when the engine is cold. i checked the coolant level and it was really low at the time but i have since filled it up hoping that was the problem but they are still both on. the car does not over heat but the temp needle in the dash stays at exactly in the middle. i do hear a small whining noise coming from the rear of the motor and im thinking it might have a bad bearing in the water pump. but that dont explain why both fans are on.

problem 2. when it shifts into 2nd it feels like im driving over the rumble strips on the side of the road. i checked the fluid level and it is about a half quart low so that should be the problem. the fluid color did look to be more of a brown color rather then red. i was told to do a fluid flush on the tranny cause the car did sit for 15 years and the oil has possibly went bad.

any ideas, questions or comments?

 

Go to honda and.get some auto trans fluid 3 quarts drain and.fill

And also id do the water pump n timing belt the low miles thing is good

But those parts are still 20 years old

Also flush your coolant and get a new thermostat from honda

 

Does the needle go straight to half way when you turn the switch on? Or does it go up like its warning up?. I've been running my 91 si without a fan at all and the needle does not move from just a little under half unless I sit at idle for awile.

Funny thing is if I turn my heat on low it won't over heat even at a idle for hours with no fan.

 

And as far as the transmission goes. Swap in a 5spd *winkwink*

 

the needle goes up like it is warming up.

also id like to keep it an automatic cause i wanna install an alarm and use the auto start. also so my wife can drive it if she ever needs to.

 

do a tune up and swap all fluids in the car n all new parts that u can afford

 

ya i will swap the fluids and see what it does for me. it also didnt want to start for a couple minutes last night and when it did start it had a miss. i just might have to go thru the entire engine and see what is what. i wouldnt think the bearings and rings would be bad with that low of miles. who knows.

 

im gonna swap the fluids today. so i went to start the car and all i see is white smoke out the exhaust. so now i know for sure the head gasket has popped. off to the parts store for a head gasket.

 

started the engine tear down and i found a couple of interesting things. the top bolt of the front tranny mount is missing and the lower bolt on the drivers side engine mount was loose. not sure if either of those would cause the tranny to vibrate when it shifts but i doubt it.

i popped the radiator cap off and it had a pretty good suction to it. the level was down so im guessing the engine is sucking the coolant into the combustion chamber and burning it.

 

Fix all problems with a B series swap and 5 speed conversion, done.

 

" id like to keep it an automatic cause i wanna install an alarm and use the auto start. also so my wife can drive it if she ever needs to."

you should actually read the thread. youre off to a good start..



these auto trans are indestructable if you keep it close to stock. when you swap the trans fluid for the honda stuff (has saved a 2 autos i thought were shot) make sure you flush it again to get all of the old fluid out next oil change.

 

i bought 7 quarts of the honda tranny fluid so i can flush it 2 times.

what i was told to do is to drain all the old crap out, put new in, drive it around for a little bit to warm the fluid up then change it again.

 

well the head is messed up. one of the valves is not sitting correctly. that explains the miss.

none of the head bolts had even torque on them so im thinking the head might be warped or it might not have just been tightened correctly so it was sucking coolant into the combustion chamber.

 

how do the cylinder walls look? is it time for just a new head, or to swap another longblock in?

 

the walls look okay but im not sure i want to chance the rings being bad if i just throw another head on it. it didnt smoke before but it had a lot of moisture in the exhaust. my past experiances tell me that means the rings are goin bad.

 

new water pump installed and once i get some free time the y8 head will be installed. only reason for the y8 is cause its the only other head i have and i know its in good shape.

 

got everything buttoned up and got it running. i still have several problems. the engine misses on #3 at low rpms. seems to go away in the higher rpms but i pull the #3 plug wire when it idles and the engine runs the same. i change the spark plugs. there is plenty of spark coming from the cap and there is spark going to the plug. i can see it arc on the valve cover when i pull the plug.

also both fans kick on when the engine just barely warms up. im thinking that maybe the temp sending unit might be bad but not sure.

any ideas on this?

 

i got problem 1 solved, the coolant temperature sending unit thats on the back of the block with the two wires has gone bad. replaced it and now it works as it should.

the engine miss was because i didnt have a vacuum line hooked up.

now if only i could get this transmission thin figured out id be straight.